The present invention relates to improvements in a packaged data card assembly, especially applicable to various types of prepaid debit cards associated with a prepaid account. The account is debited as the consumer uses the account to purchase services such as telephone services, or purchase goods, withdraw cash, etc.
In the past there have been two different basic types of structures for packaged data card assemblies. A first type is exemplified by U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,760,381 and 5,918,909, which are hereby incorporated by reference. In this type of assembly, the data card and the package, respectively, are separately manufactured from different substrates, and thereafter detachably interconnected in such a way that personal identifying indicia (e.g. a PIN number) on the card is concealed by the package. Account activation indicia, also on the card in the form of a magnetic strip or bar code, is exposed by the package so that the prepaid account can be activated at the cash register when the packaged card assembly is purchased. The problem with this type of packaged assembly is the combination of the personal identifying indicia and the activation indicia on the same card. Such small cards can easily be stolen from a store by removing the cards from their larger packages, and can then be resold either after illegal activation of the prepaid accounts or after deceiving buyers into believing that the accounts have been activated.
The second basic type of prior packaged card assembly is one wherein the card and the package have been manufactured jointly from the same substrate, with a perforated or die cut line providing easy detachment of the card from the package. In such case the personal identifying indicia is on the card in a location concealed by the package, while the account activation indicia is on the package in an exposed location for activation of the prepaid account at the cash register. This type of assembly does not encourage a thief to remove the card from the larger package, but produces a card of relatively low durability commensurate with that of the package. Solutions to this latter problem have been attempted, as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,650,209 which is hereby incorporated by reference, wherein the card portion of the common substrate of a card/package combination is laminated in plastic to improve its durability. However the resultant durability does not approach that obtainable by manufacturing the card separately from the package.